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Hi! I'm Kiersten, a thirty-something from Maine who accomplished my major life goal of running a marathon on all seven continents. Now I'm onto my next big project- being a Mom! Join me as I run, bike, swim, eat, and laugh my way through life.

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Urgent and Important

I've been up since 4 am. I leave for Morocco today and I am this crazy, excited, stressed mess. For the first 4 hours of my morning I ran around like a maniac. I'd start doing homework and then remember something I forgot to pack. So I'd go back to packing and then remember something else I needed to do for school. I drank about 6 cups of coffee.

Finally around 8 I realized I was not helping myself. I was doing a lot of things, but none of them well. So I took a break and went for a bike ride. (p.s. if only I could run as quickly as I bike. I knocked off 20 miles in like an hour and 20 mins). Once I had some of the energy and caffeine out of my system, I was able to tackle things more strategically.

I thought about what my professor said on the first day of nursing school. She said that in nursing school, and as a nurse, there will always be way more to do than you are possibly capable of doing. The trick is to categorize things by urgency and importance. Do the things that are urgent AND important first. Don't worry about the things you can't control.

What is urgent and important in the near future?

That I get myself to Boston in time for my flight
That I pack my passport and running clothes
That I pack my school notes and study on the plane
That I make it to Morocco
That I somehow run 26.2 miles while I am there
That I not fail my exam when I get back

So as much as it drives my type A personality nuts not to clean the whole house and do everything on my to-do list, I just can't. As much as I wish I knew exactly where and when I'll be running, I can't know that until I there.